Van Halen is God

My first exposure to Eddie Van Halen came when I was about six years old. At the time, I had no idea that I was listening to Van Halen. In my mind, I was listening to Michael Jackson when all of a sudden this snarling, throaty, gut-punch of a guitar solo began in the middle of “Beat It”. It was like seeing snow for the first time. I distinctly remember asking my parents what kind of instrument could make a sound like that. I don’t remember what their answer was. Here it is isolated:

Supposedly Eddie did the solo as a favor for free. While he was recording it a speaker in the control room caught on fire. In any event, that was my first taste of the god that is EVH.

And that was it for a while. Van Halen isn’t exactly the kind of band you want your young child to listen to. I mean, it’s not THAT bad but I think my tastes were geared towards pop music like Paula Abdul. In high school, my buddy Rob and I started a band and one of the first songs we learned to play was “Runnin’ with the Devil.” Rob was the kind of kid who would sleep with his guitar. He loved playing music and Van Halen was one of his idols. Me, not so much. I was interested in other things. And then Van Halen came into my life and I knew I was destined to be a rock star. (Note: clearly, this did not happen).

Van Halen is interesting because they are a multi-racial, multi-ethnic, multi-cultural band and you rarely, if ever, hear them spoken about in that context. But it’s true. Eddie, along with his brother Alex started the band while in high school. They’d had a rough go of it for most of their lives having emigrated from the Netherlands when they were adolescents. Their father, Jan, was a musician and the trio paid for their passage to America by playing tunes for the sailors on board the ship. Jan was Dutch but Eddie’s mom was from Java in Indonesia. Here’s a picture of them:

I think you can see the resemblance. Neither of the boys spoke English and were picked on relentlessly. Their clothes seemed odd and they had strange accents, even to Californians. They found solace in music. Eddie was a classically trained pianist and was a master on guitar, bass, drums — pretty much all of the instruments. And yet, he had no idea how to read music. Once he mastered one instrument he went on the next. But it’s his guitar playing that he’s known for. (Duh).

Rounding out their band, at the time called Mammoth (which is an awesome name for a hard rock band) was token white dude Michael Anthony on bass and a boisterous Jewish kid named David Lee Roth, aka Diamond Dave. You know what he did in the band, right? He picked up Freddie Mercury’s baton and basically reinvented the modern rock singer. So you’ve got two half-Indonesian brothers, a Caucasian, and a Jew. Not bad.

Eddie started drinking and smoking at 12 years old, something that seems insane to me now. He used substances to escape the racism and hatred he faced on a daily basis from his classmates. One of the most poignant stories about Eddie in the 80’s is that every night, no matter how long the band had played, he would sit in his hotel room, alone (even if his wife was on tour with him) playing guitar, drinking and doing lines of coke to stay awake. He got sober in 2008 and supposedly stayed clean until his death this year.

This video is hilarious in hindsight. What the hell is Alex wearing? Look, the late-70s were a weird time for rock ‘n roll. “Runnin’ with the Devil” was their first major hit and propelled them to stardom. Gene Simmons of KISS is often credited with “discovering” them but I think that’s a bit like Columbus “discovering” America. Lots of people already knew about it. In the video, though, you can see the massive influence KISS had on bands back then.

One thing that I find very disrespectful in the coverage of Eddie’s passing is when people refer to him as a “rocker” or “guitarist”. While that is true, that’s a bit like calling Albert Einstein a patent clerk. Eddie Van Halen was a genius with musical instruments in the truest sense. Like Mozart and Einstein, there will never be another one of him. There are hundreds of Salieris but only one Eddie. And while he did not invent the "two-handed tapping” technique, he perfected it. His guitar solos were legendary and early in the band’s history, he used to face away from the crowd so other guitarists couldn’t steal his techniques. Eventually, he became so big that he could show the world his incredible talent.

It wasn’t just his talent with instruments that made him unique. He was a true craftsman and made every single guitar he played. In his teens, he would buy used and busted guitars and reassemble them. His most famous guitar, known as “Frankenstein” had holes drilled in it, wires that connected to nothing, and went through numerous changes over the years. He would go on to sign a deal with Peavey to make his own line of guitars, all designed to his specs and named after his son (and later bandmate) Wolfgang.

One of my favorite clips of Eddie comes from 1998. He granted MTV a chance to tour his studio, 5150. It truly shows what a weird, brilliant man he was. The studio looks like a hoarder’s house. It is packed to the ceiling with instruments, parts, and amplifiers. Not to mention all the demo tapes. What I wouldn’t give to get my hands on some of that stuff.

Eddie hated the notion that he was a “guitar god”. Because of his youth, he didn’t really engage in the culture that much. Up to his death, he claimed that he never listened to music other than his own or his son’s. He lived in an isolated world of musical mastery. Genius is often a hard thing to live with.

Speaking of genius, his brother Alex was no slouch either. He is also one of the most inventive drummers who also perfected a technique that would permeate throughout rock, especially in metal bands, called double bass. This was nothing new. Keith Moon used two kick drums. John Bonham did too. But Van Halen took the mid-concert solo to new heights. What an incredible family to have such talent.

In high school, Rob and I would watch this concert VHS (Live Without a Net) and try to figure out what they were doing. It seems impossible for one person to produce such sounds. Incredibly, they might not even be the most talented Van Halens. Eddie’s son, Wolfgang, is just as impressive as his dad. I suppose it doesn’t hurt to have a teacher like that around. Not to mention the genes.

Infighting over the musical direction of the band led to Diamond Dave quitting the band in 1984, just months after the release of a massively successful album (10 million copies sold and counting). Most bands don’t recover from such a change. Not Van Halen. For many fans, it was hard to envision the band carrying on with their charismatic lead singer. And yet, they somehow managed to be even more commercially successful, something that only AC/DC has done.

Enter Sammy Hagar, former Montrose singer, and solo artist. While his time in the band is mockingly referred to as Van Hagar, he brought a different kind of energy and influence. One of the things that EVH and DLR fought over was Eddie wanting to expand the band’s sound. Dave wanted to stay hard. Eddie wanted to incorporate more keyboards and synths into the music. It softened the sound of the band but there are plenty of songs that kick ass.

Substance abuse issues would derail a lot of their momentum in the 90s. From 1978 - 1988 they released ten albums, all big records for the most part. From 1989 - 1999 only two studio albums and one live album were released. And hey, I’ll put that ‘78-’88 stretch up against any other band’s best ten years. Even the Beatles.

Sammy would leave and rejoin the group a few times as a new millennium dawned which led to a few “reunions” with David Lee Roth. In 1998 they recruited former Extreme singer Gary Cherone to join the band and make a new album. It was… not great. The music is fine and Eddie does some incredible things on guitar, constantly innovating his sound and what a guitar could do. He also took over bass guitar duties from Michael Anthony on most of the tracks. The band was in rough shape by this point, with Alex needing to play in a neck brace and requiring a two-hour massage just to get out of bed. Eddie needed to stop using substances and get a hip replacement. In the video below you can see how much their health is impacting their energy and performance.

Unfortunately for me, this was the version of Van Halen I saw in concert in 1999. I went with, of course, my buddy Rob and his parents. It was a good show but not totally memorable. There was something missing and it was obvious that Cherone, try as he might, was not the right fit. His voice just didn’t mesh with the music and he was out of the band within a year or two. Most fans like to forget that Van Halen III even exists. But there is some good stuff on there if you can get past the grating vocals.

In 2012, Van Halen fans’ dreams came true when they finally reunited with David Lee Roth for a tour and a new album. After a 14 year gap between VH3 and A Different Kind of Truth, they returned to their roots. Half of the album was reworked demos from the old days and the other half new tunes. Van Halen-heads have broken down which is which if you’re interested. They came back with a new member, Wolfgang Van Halen, who replaced Michael Anthony on bass.

When the video for “Tattoo” was released, I was overjoyed to hear them again. Most of us assumed they would never release another album. VH3 sucked (for the most part) and maybe it was for the best we not hear from them again. But we were wrong. What a fitting coda for their time together as a band to release an album that rocks as hard as Truth does.

I love to watch this video for a few reasons. One, it’s always funny to see old guys trying to rock out. Like “hey, is that grandpa?” I don’t know who has more wrinkles, Dave or Eddie. Two, it’s funny to watch Eddie and Wolfie look at each other while Diamond Dave is doing his thing. There’s a few times where they look at each other like WTF is this guy doing? I’m sure Eddie prepared Wolfie for it. But here is the band, healthy, sober-ish, and at the height of their powers. And look at Wolfie playing like a mother.

One of the most iconic performances from their reunited era is when they were scheduled to play a set for Jimmy Kimmel Live! During the opening sequence, Diamond Dave was doing his weird ninja karate thing that he’s been doing for decades and accidentally breaks his nose with the microphone stand. LOL. It’s a funny but obviously painful moment. He’s a trooper so he tries to keep going but as the blood gushes out he eventually has to run offstage. Does this throw off the band? Not really. They keep it going for a while, launching into a little improvisation. Dave returns shortly after with a bandage on his nose and they have to start over.

This post is as much an obituary for Eddie as it is for the band itself. It’s hard to imagine how they continue without their namesake and innovator. But, I do have a plan. Wolfie is an incredible guitarist. Michael Anthony is still out there. If Alex is healthy, why not do a reunion with BOTH DLR and Sammy? Even if it’s just a one-off thing as a memorial to Eddie. If I were a rock industry person I would be calling every day to make this happen. Realistically, though, we’ve probably seen the last of Van Halen. I hope there are some posthumous releases from the vault. I trust Wolfgang to ensure his father’s memory continues on. He is the son of America’s sweetheart Valerie Bertinelli, after all.

Eddie Van Halen is a master of guitar, a genius beyond reproach, an inventor, and as his ex-wife Valerie said he had a “gorgeous spirit and [an] impish grin.”

Van Halen changed my life in some very meaningful ways. I can say with certainty that had I never heard those otherworldly guitar sounds in the solo of “Beat It”, I would have never picked up a guitar. I would have never explored music. I don’t think I would be the creative soul that I am. So thank you, Van Halen.

Rest in Rock Eddie, you will be missed.